


The best kind of birthdays

by AtPK



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M, eruri - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-07
Updated: 2015-11-07
Packaged: 2018-04-30 11:48:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5162732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AtPK/pseuds/AtPK
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erwin Week Drabble: Day 3 (Birthday)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The best kind of birthdays

Erwin opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling, his sleep muffled brain taking a few seconds too long to realise where he was. His mother had made him promise a long time ago to always come home on his birthday and so, last night, after his meeting with the squad leaders had finished, he’d headed to the stables, readied his horse, and made the few hours ride back to the homestead. It’d been after midnight when he’d arrived, and even later by the time he’d settled his horse, but she’d still waited for him, the kettle warming on the fire and a hearty stew broiling in the large earthenware pot.

He’d thought that he’d be too tired to eat but almost the second the smell of his mother’s cooking reached his nose, his stomach started to grumble. She’d insisted that he go and change and wash his hands and when he’d returned the table was set and he took the place that had always been his. There was something reassuring about the normality and routine of his old life and it wasn’t long before his muscles started to relax.

Whenever he was at home, they never talked about work. They did, however, talk about Levi. His mother adored Levi just as much as Erwin did and she was always full of questions. She’d wanted to know why Levi hadn’t come too, and he’d had to explain that one of them had to stay behind to keep order and control. If he was here, Levi had to be there.

His room was just as he always remembered it and once he’s had his fill of food and drink, he’d made his way up to bed, a bed that was now more than just a little too small for his size; he’d then lay there for at least an hour, maybe more, in the darkness, trying to quieten his mind. Being home may have been good for him on one level but on another, it hurt. Being surrounded by his childhood, and the obvious reminders of his loss, just made his task even more urgent.

Erwin yawned and stretched, sitting up to swing his legs over the side of the bed. He wasn’t looking for it exactly but he couldn’t help but see it anyway. The mark on the wall. The slight dent and scrape on the plaster from when he’d punched it on his eleventh birthday, in a fit of rage at the injustice of the world. He’d locked himself in his room and refused to come out, refused even to eat.

For most of the morning, and some of the afternoon, she’d left him alone. She always had been willing to give him his own space, to a point. He clearly remembered when she’d come to his door, knocked softly, and at his non-response said: “Erwin, don’t ever regret growing older. It’s a privilege denied to many.”

Her words had been true then, but they were even more so now; and now it was he who was denying so many the privilege of seeing their next birthday. It was a bright, crisp morning and he could hear his mother moving around downstairs, he could smell the breakfast she was cooking up.

“Happy birthday, darling.” she said when he appeared at the bottom of the stairs; he kissed her lightly on the cheek.

“Can I help with anything?”

“Not at all. It’s your birthday. You just relax.”

It was a rare opportunity and he grasped onto it with both hands. Spotting that mornings Gazette on the coffee table, he took it with him out onto the back porch and was dozing lightly in the sunshine when she called him back in. He once again dutifully took his place at the table. She was in good spirits and took her time to update him on what all his childhood friends were now doing and to fill him in on all the other random local gossip. It made a very nice, and welcome, change from military chatter.

“Oh, I almost forgot, I got you something.”

Erwin watched her trundle off, and in his solitude, his gaze strayed to the framed portrait of his father on the wall. He was still staring at it when she returned.

“He’d be so very proud of you, y'know.”

“I hope so.”

“I know so.”

She leaned down and kissed him on the forehead.

“It isn’t much, but -” she shrugged as she handed him a carefully wrapped package. He unwrapped it and then smiled when he realised what it was. She must have noticed the last time he was here that the cord of his bolo tie was starting to fray so she had got him a new one, the leather soft and supple to the touch.

“Thank you.” he said, and he meant it.

Erwin spent the next few hours pottering around the house; he replenished the firewood store, and fixed a leak in the kitchen, and helped her feed the chickens but, as with all good things, it eventually had to end, and he’d promised Levi he’d be back before evening. He was just leading his horse back out into the yard, when his mother appeared in the doorway of the house, a bag in her hand.

“For you and Levi, later.” she explained and snuck it into his saddlebag. “You will give him my love, won’t you?”

“Of course,” he promised, and he did.

He had expected Levi to be waiting for him, but the sight of him now, sitting in one of the chairs by the fire, tea tray set up on the table nearby, his legs stretched out towards the warmth that slowly radiated the room; it made him genuinely happy, like he’d once again come home.

Levi glanced over his shoulder at him.

“What would I do without you?” Erwin quipped as he stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.

“You’d make your own damn tea.” Levi deadpanned.

Erwin slumped down into the chair, and kicked off his boots.

“Probably. Did anything happen while I was away?”

“Nothing I couldn’t handle.” Levi replied, reaching over to pore him a cup of fragrant tea from the still warm pot.

“Tell me.” Erwin prompted and then listened to Levi talk. He liked to listen to Levi talk. The warmth from both the fire and the tea soothed away the cold of the journey and by the time he was sufficiently toasty, Levi had stopped talking and was watching him instead.

“C'mon.”

Levi stood up and reached for his hand, Erwin took it and followed Levi into the bedroom.

There was nothing Erwin liked more then one of Levi’s long, leisurely massages, and when he saw the massage oils aligned on the bedside table, he knew he was in for a treat. He stood compliant as Levi undressed him and guided him to the bed, directing him to lay face down.

“Happy birthday, old man.”

Levi had never been the type of person to give physical gifts, he believed more in making memories then exchanging trinkets. In the time they’d been together, Levi had shared numerous sunsets and sunrises with him, had taken him to the magnificent underground caverns of his childhood, had read to him from his favourite books, had run baths for him and joined him in them and had given him a lot of massages, which sometimes, but not always, ended in sex.

“Hanji and Mike’ll be round soon,” Levi muttered, once Erwin was a boneless puddle of goo beneath his fingers. “Hanji’s managed to get her hands on some of that plum wine you like so much.”

“As only she could,” he sighed.

Levi lay down beside him and Erwin leaned up and over to kiss him.

“Do you want cake?”

“Is that a rhetorical question?”

Erwin smiled and made to get up but Levi pushed him back down.

“I’ll get it.”

Levi returned several minutes later with the homemade cake his mother had packed into his saddlebag, and two saucers for them to eat it from. There would be no crumbs in the bed if Levi had anything to do with it. They sat, resting back against the headboard, Levi nestled into his side, and eat cake.

This was definitely the kind of birthday Erwin enjoyed.


End file.
